


'cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs

by alyquens



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Hanahaki Disease, Idiots in Love, Oblivious, Roses, but like darker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:20:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26410297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alyquens/pseuds/alyquens
Summary: No one told her that feelings could kill.
Relationships: Jemma Simmons/Skye | Daisy Johnson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67
Collections: Bioquake Week 2020





	'cause most of us are heaving through corrupted lungs

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't know what hanahaki is, it's a disease in which the victim coughs up flowers, and it can get bloody, so there's a cw for some blood due to the nature of the flower that Daisy happens to cough up. 
> 
> For Bioquake Week 2020 on Tumblr.

The petals tumbled out of her mouth between loud coughs, landing daintily on the training mat beneath them, red and gold falling beneath like droplets of blood.

Daisy swallowed painfully, gasping. 

“What happened?” May was on her in an instant, glaring daggers. 

“I-” Daisy coughed again, throat aching, “I don’t know. It just… it’s just been happening and now it’s gotten worse. I don’t know.”

“We can take you to Simmons. She might be able to find out what’s-”

“No. No, god no. Not Simmons,” Daisy muttered before she was interrupted by another burst of violent coughing. She clapped her hand over her mouth, heaving as the flowers scraped their way out of her throat, edges damp with blood and spit as they landed in a mess on her hand. 

“Daisy, this could be serious, you can’t just ignore it! We don’t know if it’s contagious, if it’s magic, we don’t know! You said it’s getting worse - what are you going to do if it escalates to the point where it’s debilitating?”

“No one outside of this room can know,” Daisy protested, “and it’s not magic unless it really took a year to set in. The last time I was around someone vaguely magical was over a year ago.”

“No one but me, you, and Simmons will know,” May promised, “and Coulson if it gets to that. But if Simmons can find a treatment, they won’t _have_ to know.”

“I don’t want her to know,” Daisy whispered. If her suspicions were correct, she knew why this was happening. 

“That’s the whole point.”

* * *

Daisy was starting to regret not telling anyone. The coughing up petals and flowers was enough, but now that it was growing more frequent - and more painful - it was becoming harder to hide. And there was an ache in her chest, though she wasn’t entirely sure if it was physical or relating to… well… _her._

Another flower clawed its way up, landing with a soft splat onto the palm of her hand, coated in spittle and blood. 

“Dammit,” Daisy murmured softly, eyes glued onto the flower. It was a red rose, edges tinted a darker crimson - stained with blood, oddly beautiful, but the only thing Daisy could think of was Simmons, her soft smile, the way her eyes lit up when she talked about something she liked… she just wanted…

She just wanted something she would never have.

* * *

“Simmons, I need you to help.”

* * *

Daisy doubled, coughing loudly as she heaved, hand dropping onto the gurney to brace herself. She felt as if her insides were being sliced open as she hacked up whatever this was. As Jemma watched in horror, she gagged, and another flower tumbled out, thorned tips dragging a cut along the inside of her cheek.

“Daisy…” Jemma stared at her for a moment, eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. “Daisy, stay with me, you have to stay with me.”

Daisy could barely make sense of Jemma’s words over the sound of her own coughing, feeling another flower, once harmless and pretty, now destroying her as there was a sharp, stabbing sensation, followed by another, and she was coughing up a mess of blood and flowers, oddly beautiful - red and white and gold flowers speckled with a darker crimson.

The world was spinning. The world was spinning but she was standing still in the middle of it, watching the ground twist and twirl beneath her, but she was rooted there, like a rod, like the eye of the storm - calm as the world crashes and burns around it.

All around her, there were the sounds of machinery, a series of wild, frantic beeps, rushed footsteps, panicked voices calling out something that she couldn’t quite catch, and a loud thumping sound, over and over and over again.

She was vaguely aware that she was lying on something, body convulsing as a storm of petals left her mouth, leaving a warm trail of blood and spit that dribbled from her chin as another flurry went up. She was now the storm - hacking up her insides, watching the mess of petals leave and feeling another coming on, the sharp thorns scraping their way out of her throat. 

Her vision blurred, body screaming as she convulsed, the sound of her heartbeat growing louder and louder until the only thing she could hear was the thrums of her pulse.

The world twisted with a sickening lurch and the last thing she could see was Simmons’ face.

* * *

“Daisy, Daisy can you hear me?”

Daisy opened her eyes weakly, the world fading into focus. Everything was too bright and she squinted, opening her mouth to say something.

“I-” she coughed again, but nothing came up, “yeah.” 

Her voice was beyond mangled, choked and broken, words scraping out of her throat painfully.

“Shhh,” Simmons’ hand was intertwined with hers, warm and comforting, and Daisy wanted nothing more than to hold onto it forever. “I’ve… I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s hanahaki. It- well…” her voice trembled, “you could be dead in days, Daisy.”

The words reverberated through her head awkwardly, echoing over and over.

_Hanahaki. Dead. Days._

“Hanahaki is,” Simmons let out a shaky exhale, “it’s a disease when the victim coughs up, well, flowers… yours just happened to be roses. It’s caused by one-sided love.”

_One-sided love._

Oh, Daisy knew _exactly_ who that was. 

“You can be cured either if the person returns your feelings or through surgery. But if you choose surgery the feelings will disappear too. And I think it’s safe to say that, from the rate you’ve been coughing things up lately, it will become fatal within a week.”

Daisy shut her eyes for a long moment, clenching her jaw. She would never, ever let these feelings go. It just… they felt right, even though they were silly and out of place. Even more so seeing as she could possibly - no scratch that, would definitely - die. But losing the love she felt - she couldn’t even stomach the thought.

“No,” Daisy’s voice cracked, but her tone was resolute. “I don’t want the surgery.”

“What- Daisy!” Simmons tightened her grip, just edging on painful, but Daisy held onto it like it was a lifeline. “You’re going to die! Isn’t the smarter option to just-”

“No,” Daisy had squeezed her eyes back shut at some point, vaguely aware that she was now leaning on Simmons. “I’m not going to just… let this go.”

“Oh, Daisy…” Simmons brushed her thumb over Daisy’s cheekbone, and the small touch was enough to send a storm of butterflies up her stomach. God, she was hopeless. “Do you want to tell me who? Maybe we can find him or something. But I’m not letting you die.”

“It-” Daisy felt her cheeks heat, and she blinked hard, biting back tears. Life had a cruel way, didn’t it? Having to confess her love for someone who didn’t like her back, right in front of her. “I… don’t want to.”

“Daisy…” Jemma sighed, staring at one of the displays. “I-”

“Simmons, it’s too… I can’t possibly tell _you._ ” Daisy wondered if the emphasis was too obvious. Simmons’ expression seemed to deflate almost, shoulders slumping as she turned back to look at Daisy, a small, sad look crossing her face.

She reached for Daisy’s face, touch gentle as she stroked Daisy’s cheek softly. Daisy reached up limply, too lost in the fact that Simmons was right here to focus on the disaster that she was.

Then, somehow, she was kissing Simmons, softly and lightly, not that she had the energy for anything else, but the fluttering sensation in her stomach distracted her from anything until Simmons pulled away.

There was a sinking pit in the bottom of her stomach, but Simmons was _smiling_ , eyes sparkling with delight.

“Daisy-” Simmons began.

“Simmons-” Daisy said at the same time. “You first.”

She let out a small laugh. “It was… it was me? You could’ve just told me! Leave it to you to find the most deadly love confession ever.”

“Well, I thought you- ugh, Simmons! It’s not like I knew!” She pulled Simmons’ closer to her, sitting up shakily to press a kiss on Simmons’ cheek, then falling back as the world tilted. That couldn’t have been a good thing.

“Dehydration, blood loss, internal damage that I don’t want to begin to talk about… Daisy, you’re confined to this hospital bed for the next couple of days. Doctor’s orders.” Simmons ran a hand through Daisy’s hair.

“Next time, just tell me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
